In its quest to build a parking lot next to Rte. 9, Framingham State University has snapped up another property bordering its campus.

According to the records of the South Middlesex Registry of Deeds, the Massachusetts State College Building Authority, which often handles real estate transactions for Framingham State, bought 23 Salem End Road last week for $505,000.

The school plans to knock down the two-story house at the address to make way for the proposed new parking lot, spokesman Dan Magazu said.

The university bought the next-door 1000 Worcester Road property earlier this year for the same purpose, but has not made a decision yet whether to demolish the historic 1812 House located at the site. School officials currently are waiting for an architectural report that will help determine the cost and feasibility of preserving the building.

The tentative start date for the parking lot work is next spring, Magazu said. The project is aimed at creating more on-campus parking for students at the university, which in recent years has had to send parking overflow to several off-campus lots.

The town's assessment records show the clapboard house at 23 Salem End Road was built in 1917, and for the last 23 years has been owned by Veronica Ludwick, who operates her business, G&R Tax and Financial Services, there. Ludwick said she was planning to move to a new location at 20 Speen St., and was happy to sell to the university.

"It was a little difficult at first - if you've been anywhere for 23 years, you have your roots there," she said.

Despite the property's apparent future as a parking lot, Ludwick said she preferred it going to her longtime neighbor across Salem End Road rather than a developer.

"I think it's great for the town that Framingham State has chosen to expand, one way or another," she said, adding she's "had a good working relationship" with the university over the years.

Ludwick's business will remain at the property a few more months before the move to Speen Street can happen.

The 1812 House, meanwhile, has also been getting some use in recent weeks, but not from Framingham State. The town's fire department has been holding training sessions inside portions of the building, including some simulated smoke exercises using a fog machine. According to Assistant Fire Chief John Magri, the department often tries to get permission to use vacant, public-owned buildings in the area.

"They come infrequently, but we take advantage when they do," he said. "Practice is good - it's a dangerous job, and the more we can do, the better we'll be."

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In addition to training new recruits in the house, the fire department has also been putting regular employees through confined space exercises and small area rescue training inside some of the rooms, where it has rearranged old shelves into mazes.

"We're happy to let them use it," said Magazu, who added the university has no other purpose for the building, which "is not in any condition to be occupied."

Scott O'Connell can be reached at 508-626-4449 or soconnell@wickedlocal.com